


Before Sanders Sides

by mattiebluebird (ScarlettBond)



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, But it all turns out all right, This is really just a theory of mine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 14:46:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20798348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettBond/pseuds/mattiebluebird
Summary: How did Sanders Sidesreallystart?





	Before Sanders Sides

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a personal theory of mine that the Sides are just acting out the series, yet it's still based on true events. Hope you enjoy!

Thomas doesn't remember _exactly_ when the Four Core Sides first appeared. As far as he knew, they'd been there his entire life.  
  
He's pretty sure the first one he met was a Side who called himself Survival. Thomas's earliest memories of him are from when he was about five, but he's certain Survival had been around since before then. He was the voice that kept Thomas from tripping or talking to strangers, that encouraged him to ask for food when he was hungry and to turn on the AC when he was hot.  
  
Survival was strange. In the beginning, he was fun -sort of like a bossy, overly cautious big brother. Thomas didn't mind Survival's endless stream of advice. Sometimes he even appreciated the help.  
  
But as they grew older, Survival grew bossier and more worried. Now he would yell at Thomas to do something, and when he did his voice got all deep and echo-y. They stopped playing together, only talking when Survival would yell at him.  
  
Survival got meaner and scarier as time went on. He changed outfits: He no longer wore a leather jacket, ripped jeans, and muddied t-shirt. When he appeared, he did so suddenly, without warning, wearing an all-black hoodie and jeans, black smudged beneath his eyes.  
  
One day, he snarled that his name wasn't Survival anymore. It was _Anxiety_.  
  
Thomas didn't like Anxiety. They didn't get along.  
  
The second side he met (he thinks) was Logic. He's been around for at least as long as Survival/Anxiety, as far as Thomas could remember.  
  
Thomas liked Logic well enough in the beginning. He was helpful; he explained things patiently, like a teacher, but he didn't play with him the way Survival had. Their relationship felt distant, unemotional, _professional_, even (though at the young age of five he hadn't quite been able to put it into words).  
  
As the years went on, Logic grew sterner, stricter, bossier, and more irritable, like the really mean teachers from school that everyone hated. He brushed off everything Thomas did -his love for singing, writing, movies, even his own family- as silly and ridiculous.  
  
Thomas didn't like Logic. They didn't get along.  
  
The next Side Thomas remembers is Morality.  
  
Thomas's first memory of Morality is from when he was around four or five:  
  
His parents had punished him for something -he doesn't remember it now- and he was mad at them.  
  
_I hate them_, he thought.  
  
_ No, you can't do that. They're your parents, it's wrong!_ A voice answered.  
  
Thomas doesn't remember how he responded or what happened after that. But he has vague memories of Morality after that.  
  
They got along great at first. Morality wasn't like a strict teacher or a bossy older brother. He was a _friend_. They played and talked, and if sometimes Morality stopped him from doing something, so what? He meant well, was only there to keep him from doing wrong (and he was so friendly, how could Thomas hate him?).  
  
Morality, Morality ...where did things go wrong?  
  
Thomas can't remember. He just knows that one day he and Morality were close friends, and the next they barely spoke. Morality would never answer when Thomas asked what he'd been doing, only vaguely allude that he'd been dealing with some problems.  
  
Whatever they were, he was always dealing with them, and when he wasn't busy doing whatever he did he was busy bossing around Thomas. Now he was less like a friend and more like a father, and Thomas already had a father, thanks.  
  
Thomas didn't like Morality so much anymore. They didn't get along.  
  
Then came Creativity, or as he preferred to be called, the King. He was exactly the way Thomas imagined he would be: Regal, calm, collected, strong, and brave.  
  
Except for the times when he wasn't.  
  
King's ideas were sometimes outlandish or just plain gross, weird in that '_awkward silence' _way, weird in that '_stuff a five year old kid would blurt in the middle of a crowded room'_ way.  
  
On the flip side, this made him an amazing source of inspiration, since he was basically an endless stream of ideas and nonsense. As a child, Thomas looked up to him.  
  
And then.  
  
He doesn't know what happened -he wouldn't know for years to come- but one day King's outfit changed from gray with a rainbow sash to white and gold with a red sash. Thomas asked what happened.  
  
"I'm not a king anymore. Call me Prince."  
  
And they didn't talk -didn't _really_ talk beyond the standard blurted out ideas- for years after. Thomas still got the odd, gross ideas from time to time, but they had moved from gross to downright disturbing, and ...  
  
And it wasn't in the King's voice.  
  
Thomas didn't like the Prince so much. They didn't get along.  
  
Thomas didn't know Deceit existed until years later, during the events of Sanders Sides, but looking back, he thinks there were indications of his presence all along.  
  
One memory stands out above the others:  
  
Thomas had broken a vase. He knew his mom would be mad at him, but he didn't know what to do.  
  
_Say you don't know how it broke_, a voice whispered, deep and smooth, so unlike any of his other Sides.  
  
_No! Then your mom will just be mad you lied!_ Anxiety snapped.  
  
_And you shouldn't lie to your mother anyways!_ Morality chimed in.  
  
_Please, it's not as if she'll actually harm him_ ... Logic said, and within seconds everyone were arguing, voices fading into the background.  
  
_ Do it_, the voice whispered, cutting through the sound.  
  
Thomas did.  
  
Through the years, his Sides argued and bellowed and snarked and snarled at each other -and at Thomas- like a pack of wolves. Simple decisions could turn into full-blown debates or even brawls at the drop of a hat. High school was ...messy, to say the least.  
  
It was exhausting. It was distracting. It was _horrible_. Everything was horrible.  
  
One day when Thomas was in his mid-twenties, after college but before basically everything else, he got tired of it. He summoned all of them to the living room of his apartment, and he said simply, "Something has to change around here, and it has to change _now_."  
  
Things did change, but it took time. It took effort. It took communication. It took a _lot_, from all of them.  
  
They'd come a long way in the past few years. Less arguing. Less ..._noise_.  
  
Thomas liked the Sides. They got along well.  
  
One day, Roman -formerly the Prince- came running into his room in the middle of the night. Before Thomas could say a word, Roman said excitedly, "Okay, but what if we acted out the past few years as a series?"  
  
Thomas blinked and sat up. "I'm listening ..."


End file.
